Panetta lecture panel weighs in on Snowden, Benghazi

Monterey >> A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who helped reveal the "global surveillance system" leaked by former NSA-contractor Edward Snowden stood next to an old CIA hand who condemned the leaks as the nation's greatest loss of classified intelligence.

Former CIA Director Leon Panetta spoke of the "constant tension" as old as the United States between protecting "our freedoms" and providing for the nation's security.

"You can see it play out throughout history, particularly when we are facing crisis ... wars of one kind or another," Panetta said, harkening back to Sept. 11, 2001.

Beside him was a retired FBI director who believes our representational democracy and courts are well-equipped to maintain a lawful balance.

The four — former Washington Post reporter Barton Gellman, former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell, former FBI Director Robert Mueller and Panetta, who oversaw the CIA's mission to kill Osama bin Laden — gathered for a half-hour press conference Monday before taking the debate before an audience at the third lecture in the Panetta Institute's 2014 series.

They were asked about Snowden and the need for surveillance and about the new House committee preparing another investigation of the Benghazi attack that left four Americans dead. Morell and Mueller shared personal recollections of Sept. 11, 2001.

Gellman said without Snowden's release of classified NSA archives the debates over the limits of the nation's surveillance state wouldn't be happening — from the courts and Congress to Silicon Valley companies concerned about government overreach.

"I haven't heard a way it could have happened otherwise," he said.

Morell, who looked into the damage done by Snowden's action, said he believes it's possible "to design intelligence collection programs in a way that protects the privacy and civil liberties of Americans while still allowing the intelligence community to do its job."

Mueller declined comment on Snowden in particular, but said, "There are some things that need to be kept secret."

Gellman declined comment on the latest congressional investigation of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

But Panetta and Morell, noting the attack has been subject to many investigations already, said they welcome the latest one in the House.

"If you look at the polling numbers a not insignificant percentage of the American people still have questions," Morell said.

Morell, who said he already has testified four times about Benghazi, said he is 100 percent confident the upcoming investigation will show that allegations "the intelligence community politicized its analysis" are false.

Panetta, a former Central Coast congressman and Democratic Party stalwart, said there needs to be an investigation to lay out the full story to the public. "The problem has been sometimes bits and pieces of information keep coming out" that raise more questions, he said.

"Obviously there is a concern whether it's going to be a political effort to target an issue for a campaign," Panetta said. "I hope Democrats participate, and it really is a legitimate effort."

Mueller said FBI agents were on the ground in Benghazi after the attack and their international investigation continues.

"Substantial information has been pulled together identifying particular individuals," he said. He wouldn't say whether he expects arrests, but said one would ordinarily "expect out of that would come charges."